62 MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



side. The powder that is spilled on the paper can be returned to 

 the can. 



While the hens are on the nests they should be dusted on the 

 seventh and fourteenth day and two days before the hatch comes 

 off, with buhach or with any good insecticide. I prefer those prin- 

 cipally made with tobacco dust. 



When Hatching 



In the climate of California I have never found it necessary to 

 moisten hens' eggs. In fact, the eggs that contain dead chicks 

 show that they have not dried out enough. They did not require 

 more moisture. There is a natural perspiration which comes from 

 the hen, and this keeps the eggs moist enough. 



Should the eggs be chilled by the hen deserting the nest, do not 

 throw them away. Put them under another hen as quickly as pos- 

 sible. I have known of eggs being left for a whole day and yet 

 hatching. Eggs under hens will stand much more cooling than in 

 an incubator. Chilling seems to be less injurious during the sec- 

 ond week of incubation than at any other time. 



On the nineteenth day, two days before the hatch, I take out to 

 the nest a bucket of warm water, temperature 103 degrees ; remov- 

 ing the hen from the nest, I put the eggs into the water. Those 

 with a live chick in them immediately being to bob or move as they 

 float on the water, and I return them to the nest ; those that sink to 

 the bottom or remain perfectly quiet have dead chicks in them and 

 will not hatch, and I mark them with a pencil ; then replace the hen 

 upon the damp eggs, feeling sure I will have a good hatch. 



It is best to watch the hens pretty closely when the chicks are 

 hatching. Some hens get excited and nervous when they hear the 

 chicks peeping, and in their restlessness crush the shell so that the 

 chicks cannot turn themselves and they die in the shell. These 

 nervous hens should, if possible, be removed and quieter hens 

 put on. 



When chicks are hatching rapidly and the hens are nervous, it is 

 best to remove the chicks as they dry off, taking them to the kitchen 

 in a basket lined and covered with flannel. But if the hens are quiet 

 it is best to leave the chicks with the mothers, only visiting the 

 nests about twice during the hatch to take out the empty shells, 

 lest they should slip over the yet unhatched eggs and so smother the 

 chick. All eggs should be hatched by the end of the twenty-first 

 day. 



Marking Chicks 



The offspring of the best, or pedigreed stock, can be marked so 

 as to know them through life, by having a small hole punched in 

 one or more of the webs of the feet. This should be done as the 

 chicks are removed from the nests. A marker or punch is sold at 

 poultry supply houses for marking chicks. They should be marked 

 the day they are hatched, as the web is then soft, does not bleed as 

 much as later, and there is not as much risk of the other chicks 

 pecking the toes as they would do when older. 



